Delalande And Marais (1657-1726 And 1656-1728)

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Episodes

This week Donald Macleod celebrates the life and music of Marin Marais and Michel-Richard De Lalande, successors to Lully at the Sun King's court.

The viol player Marin Marais's cache of admirers has grown in numbers since Gérard Depardieu appeared in a film based loosely on the musician's life. Prior to cinematic fame, according to Jordi Savall, who created the film's award winning soundtrack, Marais's legacy was valued in the main by fellow violists, musicians and musicologists.

Marais was the most brilliant bass violist of his generation. According to the eighteenth century chronicler, Evrard Titon du Tillet, after a mere six months Marais's virtuosity had outstripped his teacher's, a famous exponent of the instrument, Monsieur de Saint-Colombe. If we're to believe Tillet, while his teacher felt he had nothing more to show him, such was his passion to learn that Marais then hid underneath the secluded hut where his reclusive teacher would play, to listen, learn and further his own technique.

Marais's brilliance as a violist attracted the attention of Lully, the all-powerful Superintendant of the King's Music. Thereafter Lully took Marais under his wing, giving him a job in 1675 playing viol in the Opera orchestra; an appearance as the character "Dream playing a viol" in Lully's "Atys" brought Marais to the notice of Louis XIV. Officially he became "viol player in the Royal Chamber" on 1st August 1679. Figures vary wildly but Marais' legacy numbers something in the region of 500-700 pieces for the viol, published in five books, offering something for every occasion and standard of player. While some demand technical skill and advanced standards of musicianship, others were written with the less proficient performer in mind. His fertile and inventive imagination also turned to the publication of a landmark series of Trios and stage works.

This pairing brings Marais together with Michel-Richard Delalande, a composer who's probably best known through his contribution to church music, in particular the "grands motets" that formed an important part of royal services at Versailles. The 77 authenticated grand motets Delalande produced and then reworked over almost fifty years are widely regarded as reaching the high point of a genre that had been passed on by Lully and Henry Du Mont, the grand motet's creator. However Delalande also wrote ballets, entertainments and divertissements for the royal palaces and more famously suites of instrumental music for the King to enjoy during his meals.

Born a year after Marais, in 1657, Michel-Richard Delalande became the most pre-eminent composer at the court of Louis XIV. His was something of a rags to riches story. Rising from humble beginnings, after forty-three years of royal service, he was one of the few musicians who could afford his own coach, a three storey house in Paris, a country house, and an apartment near the Chateau at Versailles as well as a substantial collection of art and silver.

The popularity of Delalande's music extended far beyond those privileged enough to be able to attend the King's Mass. After 1725 and with the creation of Concert Spirituel concerts in Paris they were regularly performed for a wider public.

The story begins and indeed ends for these composers in Paris. The son of a shoe-maker, in 1667 at the age of ten, through the auspices of a well placed uncle, Marais is admitted to the prestigious royal church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois choir school. There his path converges for the first time with Delalande, the son of a Parisian tailor. For both of them the musical training they receive there offers both education and social advancement.

02

20121211

Donald Macleod on Delalande's seeking to impress Louis XIV and Marais's work with Lully.

In 1683 the court of Louis XIV moved to Versailles and the King held a competition to appoint four chapel music masters and composers. Ambitious and talented, Delalande was one of the young candidates hoping to impress the King. Meanwhile, under the aegis of Lully, Marais's career was progressing. Presented by Donald Macleod.

03

20121212

Donald Macleod focuses on how Lalande and Marais achieved fame and fortune.

During his term as conductor at the Paris Opéra, Marais would enjoy the biggest success of his career with the production of "Alcione" in 1706. Meanwhile the tragic death of his two daughters brings Delalande closer to the King. Presented by Donald Macleod

04

20121213

Donald Macleod on how Louis XIV's death in 1715 brought changes for Delalande and Marais.

The death of Louis XIV in 1715 marked the end of royal patronage for Marin Marais. It also saw him rise to new heights of creativity. Shortly after that he astonished the musical world by publishing his most ambitious book of viol music to date. It was a period of change for Delalande too, with a reduction in his duties at court and the mounting of a new stage work in which Louis XV took part. With Donald Macleod

05 LAST

20121214

Donald Macleod focuses on Delalande and Marais's varied interests in their final years.

Donald Macleod concludes this week's series with a look at Marais and Delalande's varied interests in their final years. Once his days of royal patronage were over Marais returned to Paris, moving eventually to the area in which he'd been born. There he tended his garden, played backgammon, gave concerts and promoted the sales of his published music. Blessed with several generous pensions, Delalande lived very comfortably, revising his church music while gradually relinquishing his royal duties to a younger generation of musicians.

Episodes

This week Donald Macleod celebrates the life and music of Marin Marais and Michel-Richard De Lalande, successors to Lully at the Sun King's court.

The viol player Marin Marais's cache of admirers has grown in numbers since Gérard Depardieu appeared in a film based loosely on the musician's life. Prior to cinematic fame, according to Jordi Savall, who created the film's award winning soundtrack, Marais's legacy was valued in the main by fellow violists, musicians and musicologists.

Marais was the most brilliant bass violist of his generation. According to the eighteenth century chronicler, Evrard Titon du Tillet, after a mere six months Marais's virtuosity had outstripped his teacher's, a famous exponent of the instrument, Monsieur de Saint-Colombe. If we're to believe Tillet, while his teacher felt he had nothing more to show him, such was his passion to learn that Marais then hid underneath the secluded hut where his reclusive teacher would play, to listen, learn and further his own technique.

Marais's brilliance as a violist attracted the attention of Lully, the all-powerful Superintendant of the King's Music. Thereafter Lully took Marais under his wing, giving him a job in 1675 playing viol in the Opera orchestra; an appearance as the character "Dream playing a viol" in Lully's "Atys" brought Marais to the notice of Louis XIV. Officially he became "viol player in the Royal Chamber" on 1st August 1679. Figures vary wildly but Marais' legacy numbers something in the region of 500-700 pieces for the viol, published in five books, offering something for every occasion and standard of player. While some demand technical skill and advanced standards of musicianship, others were written with the less proficient performer in mind. His fertile and inventive imagination also turned to the publication of a landmark series of Trios and stage works.

This pairing brings Marais together with Michel-Richard Delalande, a composer who's probably best known through his contribution to church music, in particular the "grands motets" that formed an important part of royal services at Versailles. The 77 authenticated grand motets Delalande produced and then reworked over almost fifty years are widely regarded as reaching the high point of a genre that had been passed on by Lully and Henry Du Mont, the grand motet's creator. However Delalande also wrote ballets, entertainments and divertissements for the royal palaces and more famously suites of instrumental music for the King to enjoy during his meals.

Born a year after Marais, in 1657, Michel-Richard Delalande became the most pre-eminent composer at the court of Louis XIV. His was something of a rags to riches story. Rising from humble beginnings, after forty-three years of royal service, he was one of the few musicians who could afford his own coach, a three storey house in Paris, a country house, and an apartment near the Chateau at Versailles as well as a substantial collection of art and silver.

The popularity of Delalande's music extended far beyond those privileged enough to be able to attend the King's Mass. After 1725 and with the creation of Concert Spirituel concerts in Paris they were regularly performed for a wider public.

The story begins and indeed ends for these composers in Paris. The son of a shoe-maker, in 1667 at the age of ten, through the auspices of a well placed uncle, Marais is admitted to the prestigious royal church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois choir school. There his path converges for the first time with Delalande, the son of a Parisian tailor. For both of them the musical training they receive there offers both education and social advancement.

02

20121211

Donald Macleod on Delalande's seeking to impress Louis XIV and Marais's work with Lully.

In 1683 the court of Louis XIV moved to Versailles and the King held a competition to appoint four chapel music masters and composers. Ambitious and talented, Delalande was one of the young candidates hoping to impress the King. Meanwhile, under the aegis of Lully, Marais's career was progressing. Presented by Donald Macleod.

03

20121212

Donald Macleod focuses on how Lalande and Marais achieved fame and fortune.

During his term as conductor at the Paris Opéra, Marais would enjoy the biggest success of his career with the production of "Alcione" in 1706. Meanwhile the tragic death of his two daughters brings Delalande closer to the King. Presented by Donald Macleod

04

20121213

Donald Macleod on how Louis XIV's death in 1715 brought changes for Delalande and Marais.

The death of Louis XIV in 1715 marked the end of royal patronage for Marin Marais. It also saw him rise to new heights of creativity. Shortly after that he astonished the musical world by publishing his most ambitious book of viol music to date. It was a period of change for Delalande too, with a reduction in his duties at court and the mounting of a new stage work in which Louis XV took part. With Donald Macleod

05 LAST

20121214

Donald Macleod focuses on Delalande and Marais's varied interests in their final years.

Donald Macleod concludes this week's series with a look at Marais and Delalande's varied interests in their final years. Once his days of royal patronage were over Marais returned to Paris, moving eventually to the area in which he'd been born. There he tended his garden, played backgammon, gave concerts and promoted the sales of his published music. Blessed with several generous pensions, Delalande lived very comfortably, revising his church music while gradually relinquishing his royal duties to a younger generation of musicians.